Rivet

My husband and I and our dog, a 45 pound German Shorthaired Pointer temporarily lived at The Rivet as part of an international transfer from the London. Our apartment was furnished and provided to us by Aboda. It was a one bedroom with a queen bed, couch, chair, large flat screen TV (though no HD channels), high-​top glass table and four very uncomfortable chairs.
Since the apartment is furnished, I wondered about the quality of the dinnerware, flatware and cookery but all is good aside from the very dull knives. Oneida is the brand of choice for the flatware, knives and cookery whereas a non-​IKEA brand is of choice for the dinnerware. In fact, nothing in this apartment is from IKEA which is totally amazing in itself. All appliances are Whirlpool. The actual spec of the apartment is good. It feels really solidly built and though the floors look like hardwood, they are actually some sort of vinyl composite, so that is better for anyone who has a dog and is worried about the dog’s nails scratching the wood floor. It’s not possible to scratch the vinyl composite flooring here.
Our apartment was on the corner of the building, directly above reception. In a nutshell, it was hot, stuffy and loud. The most significant noise comes from Mercer St. where cars zoom up Mercer St as it is the only way to traverse from downtown to First Hill/​Capitol Hill easily. Additionally, cars zoomed up the on-​ramps to the I-​5. Then there were semi trucks slamming on their breaks as they exited onto Mercer St from the I-​5. Buses are constantly going past the apartment. Fire sirens from firetrucks. Police sirens. Just very noisy from a traffic perspective. And this noise is 24 hours a day and exists even with the windows closed. At times we were able to hear the people above us but overall, it was a non-​issue.
As for the windows, only the bottom 2ft of our windows open and even then, they only opened a few inches, definitely not enough for a breeze to come through. Without the ability to open windows, the apartment is constantly hot and stuffy. The first week in this apartment, the temperature was over 80 degrees inside with no way to lower it as there is no a/​c. The outside temperatures during that time was mid-60’s. I don’t see any feasible way of living here during the summer months.
Two other important things to note. First, there is a business called 1 – 800 Water Damage that is located across the street from the Rivet and this business causes a great deal of noise during the day (or perhaps the plot of land that 1 – 800 Water Damage resides on is actually being used by the construction company of the high-​rise currently under construction around the block; I can’t tell and it doesn’t matter). Employees arrive at 5am and start moving construction debris from one dumpster to another. Throughout the morning and day, you will hear an onslaught of debris dumping into the dumpster along with the reverse ‘beeping’ noise from Caterpillar machinery. I was mostly unable to work from the apartment due to the noise which is a problem since I am a remote employee of my company.
Second, a homeless shelter is directly nextdoor to the Rivet. Though harmless, there are homeless people milling around the apartment and in the area into the late evening hours. As I write this review, there is a man grasping the pole of a stop sign (located right outside the entryway) and grunting and yelling loudly. He clearly has mental issues, however, no one has stopped to assist him. People just walk by and stare.
Another thing is that a good majority of this building is temporary housing for people who have been relocated to Seattle, so there is a constant rotation of people, and some of those people may have less respect for their neighbors than people who are long-​term residents here (e.g. noise).
The dog area on the roof is simply a toilet for dogs. Any respectable dog will not play in this area because dogs don’t usually play where they defecate. It’s sort of like a shallow pool filled with mulch and is kind of buoyant when you walk on it. Our dog is apparently too good to poop there, so we’ve been forced to take him on walkies around the neighborhood to go poo which he doesn’t really care for either. I think he just misses Hampstead Heath in London.
If you are looking for a long-​term rental, then I’d really think long and hard about renting at the Rivet.